


Split the Difference

by penguistifical



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Lonely Eyes but let's do it literally, M/M, hurt/comfort week may be over but time's an illusion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:34:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26334211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penguistifical/pseuds/penguistifical
Summary: Hurt/Comfort Week Day 6: delirium/confusion, cradled, accidentThe Lonely and The Eye are interested in each other, Peter and Elias just get caught up in things.
Relationships: Elias Bouchard/Peter Lukas
Comments: 4
Kudos: 77





	Split the Difference

**Author's Note:**

> cw: momentary disorientation/helplessness
> 
> I decided I want to do more hurt/comfort prompts  
> so, Lonely Eyes where it's Lonely/Eyes? I've been thinking about this idea for a bit
> 
> here we go

Peter Lukas and James Wright meet by chance at an auction, though they would surely have met somewhere sooner or later. Peter considers that inevitable, given the circles they both move in. When only a few are in the know, even enemies and opponents gravitate towards each other for company on the basis that if they don’t agree, they at least share an understanding. And the two of them are not exactly enemies, though Peter rarely, if ever, wants company.

Peter is dropping off a crate that he'd transported without questions as a favor, and is directed by the auctioneer towards a ‘Mr. Wright, head of the Magnus Institute.’

“Buying or selling?” Peter asks Wright without introducing himself, knowing full well both who Wright is and exactly how much he's already paid for the contents of the crate. It’s something of a test to see if James knows who he is, the implication being that of course he should. Peter wants to get the measure of the man, and then get back to more important matters, alone. He assumes James would want the same thing, more or less. It’s always good to know who’s on the playing field.

“Captain Lukas,” Wright says pleasantly. “Kind of you to allow me to purchase this before it goes up for bid. Although, this is more of a direct approach to your goods than I would have expected from someone of,” Wright raises his eyebrows in implication, but finishes with, “...your family.” He briefly gives Peter a near imperceptible once-over. “I imagine you won’t be staying in port for long?”

Peter shakes his head and drops the crate at Wright’s feet, hoping that whatever it contains is fragile.  
  
James laughs, clipped and polite. “Then I won’t keep you. Thank you for delivering my special order.”

“Oh, it’s nice to keep a hand in on occasion, when one’s already devoted one's funds and time,” Peter replies easily, neatly reranking himself in the conversation from delivery boy back to necessary patron. Wright gives him the barest smile of acknowledgement, and extends a hand.

The feeling when he shakes hands with the man is nothing short of electric.

There’s a shock that runs up Peter’s body, starting with the tips of his fingers and running its way up his arms to behind his eyes. From the honest surprise on James’s face - the first honest expression that’s been on his face since they started talking - he seems to feel the same.

Peter had been dismissed, sorted easily into the category of “Lukas” and “nonthreatening.” Now, though, James is looking at him with a fierce intensity.

Peter doesn’t care to be under the scrutiny of the Eye. It’s always been an advantage of Forsaken to choose when to engage, and who would bring to the fight the Lonely on its own ground?  
  
So, Peter simply leaves, stepping easily into welcoming fog, letting the bustle of the crowd dissolve into agreeable nothingness.

Visiting his own domain is always good. The Lonely has long been where he feels most comfortable. The needful time spent out in the world potentiates that feeling, creating a contrast between the harsh buzz of company against the Lonely's quiet embrace. This time, however, returning to the Lonely feels blissful, like he’s completing himself.

Peter walks dreamily through fog for weeks.  
  
  
  
When he finally does step out for a more defined reality, he visits a family townhouse. It’s nominally his, but it’s more a glorified mailbox than anything else, and indeed he’s received more than several letters. Most are, to his distaste, from James, casually asking if Peter might perhaps like to visit the Institute. Nothing is implied, nothing is offered.

A final letter is from one Elias Bouchard, the apparent new head of the Institute, asking if Peter will visit the new management. He offers a time and date.  
  
  
  
When Peter steps out of fog and into the new Head of the Institute’s office, he very nearly turns on the spot to leave immediately. Elias, showing no surprise at the avatar who has just appeared, starts to introduce himself. Peter raises a hand and cuts him off. It’s the same man he’s already met. This is James, in a new shape. He’s not entirely sure why he’s so certain, but something about the feel of standing close to him is laden with recognition. 

“We’ve met.” Peter says flatly.

“Well, as James, yes.” Elias looks down at his own hand, making a fist as if to feel his own strength. “It’s Elias, now.” He leans back in his chair looking entirely casual, but his stare is steady and intense. “You don’t have the time to discuss a few matters regarding the way your funds are being used?”

“No.” The room feels the way the ocean does before a bad storm breaks. That’s not entirely unpleasant, Peter has spent several fine evenings walking public paths cleared by a storm in solitude. But there is a strange tension, a pressure, and Peter is wary of what this Elias might want.

“Then, do you have the time to have a drink? I’ll admit, I don’t know what your tastes are.” Elias smiles self-effacingly, but it’s almost certainly a lie whenever a Beholder says ‘I don’t know.’

“My tastes?" Peter asks. "In drinks, or in people?”

“Oh, either.” Elias runs a hand through his hair, and blatantly looks Peter up and down. It’s a much different look than the measuring one James had given him at first to size up his powers. This one lingers on his hands, his shoulders, his eyes. “Why, do you like what you see?”

“Shouldn’t I be asking you? Beauty is in the eye of Beholding, after all.”

Elias looks positively delighted. “Why, Lukas, you’re fun. I didn’t know you would be.” He leans forward, eyes no longer roaming Peter’s body but holding his gaze. “Then, if I might be blunt, I’d like to do more than have a few drinks.”

“Be blunter,” Peter suggests, stepping slightly backwards, enjoying Elias’s look of frustration.

“Fine. I want to Know you. More than anyone I’ve met, and I have no idea why.”

It’s a surprisingly seductive offer, to stay and be Known for a bit. Peter’s actually taken aback at the surge of want he feels for the idea, and instinctively decides to flee.

He steps back again, and Elias’s face falls. 

“Wait, wait,” Elias calls, trying to hold him in the office. “It’s not just a personal want. I think I may actually be a bit weaker from...not pleasing the Eye, with regards to you.”

“You’ll get no statement from me, Mr. Bouchard.” Peter tells him firmly.

“‘Mr. Bouchard?’ You don’t need to be so formal,” Elias says, clearly trying to distract from the seriousness of what he’s just admitted. “Listen, I don’t want a statement.”

“Oh, no statement? Then, I don’t need to stay in the Institute any longer.” Peter waves a hand in mocking farewell.

“ _What would make you stay?”_

The compulsion loops around him, a neat snare ready to draw him back along after the answer that emerges. Or so Elias probably hopes, because Peter’s true answer bubbles up along with a laugh.  
  
“I’d stay if I couldn't reach the Lonely. So, nothing.” He tells Elias, and fades away, still chuckling.  
  
  
  
Peter stretches after he departs, luxuriating in the feel of the Lonely. It’s not just the normal pleasure of being entirely by himself, but that, having walked away from Elias, he’s now _without_ anyone else, striding alone with the memory of how strangely intimate the compulsion had felt. Managing to surprise the Beholder twice feels like quite the win. It’s also hard to deny after a second time speaking with Elias that the man appears to be something of a common factor in the rush of power Peter feels upon stepping into his domain. It hasn’t ever been like this after talking to anyone else. Elias _had_ been looking a bit desperate, though. Peter considers that he might do something nice for the Beholder later, as a favor for how lovely he feels at the moment.

Then again, maybe not.  
  
  
  
There’s a single person already on the dock as Peter walks up to his ship the next day. He does like to board the Tundra properly now and then. It’s good for the crew to see him engage in normal activity on occasion so that they wonder about the other times when Peter seems to have mysteriously vanished. It’s always good to keep the crew on edge, and so he’s glad to see one of his sailors already there.

His pleased mood dissipates like mist at noon when he sees that the lone figure is Elias Bouchard.

“Peter,” Elias calls to him, preventing him from carrying out the attractive idea of pretending that they don’t know each other. “Can we talk?”

Peter lifts his head to the ocean, sighing into the wind. “Poor timing. I’m sailing in two hours.”

Elias smiles winningly. “That’s two hours in which we could talk.” His voice is persuasive, but the Beholder doesn’t appear to be his suave self. He’s hiding it well in his tone, but there are dark circles underneath his eyes, and the pallor of his face would be, if Peter cared, worrying.

Peter shifts on the dock, deliberating, examining Elias’s grey face.

“A poor use of my two hours. Go ahead, then. Talk.”

Elias tucks his hands under his arms, underdressed for the cooler temperatures near the water. “I did a bit of research, and I believe I understand what’s happening. The god I serve is interested in you.”

When he doesn’t continue, Peter replies, “Yes, interested in any avatar, I would think.” Those who serve do tend to leave an intriguing trail and tale of horror behind them, and Beholders flock to it like cats to catnip.

Elias shakes his head in frustration. “It’s more what you represent, but yes, you in particular."

“How flattering,” Peter says tonelessly, and Elias scowls. 

“Fine, you clearly don’t want to listen. You’re right, it’s a poor use of your two hours.” Elias says, sardonic and bitter. “Have a nice trip. I’ll see you when you get back.” 

“You most certainly won’t.” Peter tells him cheerfully, and is completely unprepared for Elias to lunge forward and grab his hand.

The connection again jolts through them both, filling Peter with a sense of external power looming over them like a thunderstorm about to break. He’s filled again with the urge to be Known, to be close to Elias so that he can be truly apart later. Without thinking, he pulls the other avatar in close, resting his forehead on Elias’s. Elias gazes up at him with something close to adoration, placing his other hand on Peter’s chest, _drinking in his thoughts_.

Peter pushes him away and steps off the dock, vanishing into the Lonely before he hits the water.

The sensation of Elias examining his memories is much muted, but not so the sense of being watched.

“Sod off, Elias. If you want to see the Lonely that badly, I’ll bring you in here.” Peter threatens.

The sense of being seen drops instantly.

Peter considers, for just a second, that Elias had maybe been intimidated by the warning, or perhaps even was being respectful of Peter’s wishes. But no, Elias had done little to indicate that he would be easily intimidated, and less to suggest he’d be respectful.

Growling in frustration, Peter steps out of the Lonely and back to the dock. Elias has collapsed to the ground, looking grayer than ever.

“What do you think you’re doing, trying to spy on me like that?” Peter snaps, frustrated and unsure of what would be best to do.

Elias looks around as if disoriented, trying to track the source of the noise. “Peter?” He makes an unsteady attempt to stand. “You came back?”

Peter acknowledges that letting the Beholder die, or at least him leaving to recover (or not) on his own would be the wiser option. He thinks this through every step of carefully picking Elias up, slowly walking him onto the Tundra in his arms, holding him tightly as he makes his way towards his cabin.

“Just so you know, I’m still quite capable of dropping you where you stand.” Elias murmurs into his chest, a threat in complete contrast to how he’s snuggling down comfortably in Peter’s arms.

Peter snorts and doesn’t answer.  
  
Bringing Elias into his own private set of cabins should feel like the grossest breach of privacy, and yet, it doesn’t. He is the only other person to have ever visited these rooms. Peter drapes the nerveless Beholder onto his own bed and waits.

“Peter?” Elias calls, sounding unsure again.

“Still here, I’m afraid.” Peter sighs.

“You brought me onto your ship? I’m touched.” Elias is speaking as if he’s not yet regained control of his faculties, and is keeping his voice clipped and controlled to hide that. 

“Are you prone to fainting?”

“No.” Elias says shortly. “I tried to follow you into the Lonely. Not physically, I mean, but with sight.” He shakes his head, rubbing his temples. “Not meant to do that so gracelessly, apparently.” 

Peter examines him, stretched out on the bed, woozy and vulnerable. “One hour.” He says.

“Pardon?”

“We’ve got an hour left before I sail. Talk.”

“My Entity is drawn to yours, for the pair of contrasts we represent. For the record, if you and I parted ways now, I'd be fine. Uncomfortable for a few days, but eventually fine. I found a similar pair in the Institute records, a couple where one served the Vast and the other the Buried.”

Peter considers such a pairing. “How did they get on?”

The Beholder laughs shortly, and then seems to regret it, holding his head to keep the world from spinning. “They killed each other.”

Peter sits down next to Elias. “Well.”

Elias slowly manages to sit up, and moves himself next to Peter. “I haven’t lived so long only to die at your hands, Lukas.”

“That’s fine, I wasn’t planning on killing you.”

“Mm. So, we just go on like this?”

They sit next to each other in a silence Peter finds peaceful, despite the charge in the air between them. He understands the forces pulling them together, as the couple of the Buried and Vast had been similarly attracted. The Eye and the Lonely can be measured against other, shaped and refined by the contrast, deriving power where they meet. For Elias, the desire to learn and know about a servant of Forsaken, someone who shrouds their secrets in solitude is a tantalizing draw. For Peter, to know he’ll soon be distancing himself, truly alone from something determined to Know him, is equally irresistible. When they’re together, Elias will take what he can. When they’re apart, the scales will tip in favor of Peter.

It’s easy to kiss him. Elias meets him halfway with the same thought, pulling Peter in closer by the collar of his coat. Elias makes soft, needy noises, pressing himself close even as Peter wraps his arms around him. When Peter feels a tentative touch in his mind, he nods his permission, groaning as Elias strokes over his thoughts and thighs. They eventually break apart with a gasp, Elias staring into his eyes for what secrets he might be allowed to take.

Then, to Peter’s surprise, the Beholder chuckles.  
  
“On second thought, perhaps this won’t be such an ordeal after all.” Elias says, hands still tracing circles at Peter's hips. 

Peter rolls his eyes and pulls Elias in for another kiss. As Elias now knows, he'd lied about when the ship was leaving. They’ve got another two hours at least, and he’s determined to make the most of it.

**Author's Note:**

> what *was* in that crate...we may never know
> 
> also plenty of Eye acolytes can say "I don't know" and be telling the truth, that's just how Peter feels about things, he is b-eye-ased
> 
> thank you everybody who leaves kudos and comments, you are all really great and I appreciate it a lot


End file.
